U.S. patent number 4,385,958 [Application Number 06/290,496] was granted by the patent office on 1983-05-31 for label cassette and system for mounting same.
This patent grant is currently assigned to E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company. Invention is credited to George R. Long.
United States Patent |
4,385,958 |
Long |
May 31, 1983 |
Label cassette and system for mounting same
Abstract
A label cassette is described in which labels releasably adhered
to a support strip are stored in a cassette. The cassette is
generally rectangular with one corner formed at approximately a
45.degree. angle. A reflective surface is placed on the angular
corner to permit a light beam to be reflected from the cassette
through holes in the support strip between each label to control
the advance of the support strip into the label printer. With this
arrangement the proper positioning of the label cassette as well as
that of the support strip are simultaneously detected.
Inventors: |
Long; George R. (Newark,
DE) |
Assignee: |
E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and
Company (Wilmington, DE)
|
Family
ID: |
23116270 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/290,496 |
Filed: |
August 6, 1981 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
156/361; 156/384;
221/73; 242/563; 242/564.3; 242/596.8; 352/78C |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65C
9/1892 (20130101); B65C 9/1865 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65C
9/18 (20060101); B65C 9/08 (20060101); G03B
023/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;242/197-199 ;206/387
;221/73 ;156/384,542,584,361,540-541 ;352/78R,78C,72 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Simmons; David A.
Claims
I claim:
1. A cassette for holding a roll of labels releasably adhered to a
support strip with position locator openings in the strip between
each label, the cassette adapted to supply the support strip to a
printer for label imprintation, the printer having a receptacle for
receiving the cassette, the receptacle having a sensor for sensing
label position by directing a beam of radiant energy toward the
cassette and a detector for radiant energy positioned transversely
of the beam, and means responsive to the detector for advancing the
support strip for label imprintation, said cassette having:
a shell-like housing with a bottom wall and enclosing side walls
for retaining the roll of labels,
a shaped exit slot on one side wall for directing the support strip
along the one side wall toward one corner of the cassette,
the one corner defining a surface reflective of radiant energy, the
surface transversely disposed relative to the one side wall, and
said radiant energy passing from said beam to said detector through
a position locator opening in the strip only when the cassette is
properly positioned in the receptacle, and
a cover wall to enclose the shell-like housing.
2. The cassette of claim 1 wherein the cover and bottom walls
define a hub for mounting the label roll.
3. The cassette of claim 1 or 2 wherein a reflective strip is
adhered to the transverse surface.
4. A cassette for holding a roll of lables releasably adhered to a
support strip with position locator openings in the strip between
each label, the cassette adapted to supply the support strip to a
printer for label imprintation, the printer having a receptacle for
receiving the cassette, the receptacle having a sensor for sensing
label position by directing a beam of radiant energy toward the
cassette and a detector for radiant energy positioned transversely
of the beam, and means responsive to the detector for advancing the
support strip for label imprintation, said cassette having:
a shell-like housing with a bottom wall and enclosing side walls
for retaining the roll of labels,
a shaped exit slot on one side wall for directing the support strip
along the one side wall toward one corner of the cassette,
the one corner defining a surface reflective of radiant energy, the
surface transversely disposed relative to the one side wall, and
said radiant energy passing from said beam to said detector through
a position locator opening in the strip only when the cassette is
properly positioned in the receptacle,
a cover wall to enclose the shell-like housing,
said receptacle being defined by first and second corner brackets,
the second corner bracket defining a guide groove for guiding the
support strip to the printer and an opening for permitting the beam
of radiant energy to pass to the detector through the label
position locator openings via the reflective surface.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Automatic label dispensers are being used more and more. One area
of use is in supermarkets where prices are imprinted on a label and
applied to the merchandise by an automatic hand held labelling
machine. One machine of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No.
4,264,396 issued to Stewart. In this machine, labels releasably
adhered to a support strip are stored in a cassette from which they
are dispensed to a thermal printer as needed. Dot indicia are
placed on the support strip between each label to be detected by a
photocell and thereby control the incremental advance of each label
to the printer.
Unfortunately, if the dot formed on the substrate between each
label is not of uniform density or if there are skips, the
positioning of each label may not always be positively achieved.
Also, if the cassette is not placed securely in its receptacle in
the printer mechanism, the labels can become somewhat skewed, again
creating problems. In extreme cases, the skewing, because of an
improperly seated cassette, can cause the label advance to jam.
The label dispensing system described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,384,
which senses the differences in reflectivity between a label and
the label substrate, suffers from similar disadvantages.
In another label printing system, such as that described in U.S.
Pat. No. 4,048,494, the label advance is controlled by passing a
light beam directly through a transparent substrate. In this manner
the proper advance of each label to the print area is controlled.
This system suffers from many of the same disadvantages as those
discussed above. If the cassette is not in the proper position the
support strip can become skewed causing undue friction. Also, if
the optical density of the support strip varies or becomes marked,
a false label detection can occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to this invention a cassette for holding a roll of labels
releasably adhered to a support strip having position locator
openings between each label, is contructed. The cassette is adapted
to supply the support strip (with labels) to a printer for label
imprintation. The printer has a rectangular shaped receptacle for
receiving the cassette and the receptacle has an optical sensor for
sensing label position by directing a beam of radiant energy toward
the cassette and a detector for radiant energy positioned
transversely of the beam to receive radiant energy reflected from
the cassette, and means responsive to the detector for advancing
the support strip for label imprintation.
The cassette has a shell-like housing with a bottom wall and
enclosing side walls for retaining the roll of labels, a shaped
exit slot on one side wall for directing the support strip along
the one side wall toward one corner of the cassette, the one corner
defining a surface reflective of radiant energy transversely
disposed relative to the one side wall, and a cover wall to enclose
the shell-like housing.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, both the cover and
bottom walls define a hub for mounting the label roll. A reflective
strip may be adhered to the transversely disposed surface. The
rectangular receptacle is defined by first and second corner
brackets, the second corner bracket defining a guide groove for
guiding a support strip to the printer and an opening for
permitting reflected radiant energy to pass from the reflective
surface through the label position locator openings in the support
strip to the detector, the detector being located adjacent the
guide groove at the opening.
With this construction, the beam of radiant energy, light, passes
through the guide groove opening and the support strip, impinges
upon the corner of the cassette and is reflected horizontally (in
the drawing) to a radiant energy detector. In this manner not only
must the cassette be in position for the system to operate but the
cassette must be properly in position. If it skewed or not all the
way in its receptacle the reflective light path is broken and the
system is inoperative. Furthermore, the beam must pass directly
through holes formed within the support strip. This is a very
positive system of a go or no-go variety in which no subtle
variations in density are relied upon for proper advance control of
the individual labels.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further advantages and features of this invention will become
apparent from the following description in conjunction with the
drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a part elevation, part block diagram of a cassette,
constructed in accordance with this invention, positioned in a
label printing system;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cassette and its mounting bracket,
depicted in FIG. 1, constructed in accordance with this
invention;
FIG. 3 is a pictorial representation of the cassette of FIG. 2 in
an open position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In patient identification and other like systems using labels it is
necessary to provide a suitable supply of labels that can be
imprinted with the desired information. It is customary to place a
roll of labels releasably adhered to a support strip into a
dispensing cassette for use with the appropriate printing
equipment. This printing equipment may, for example, be a label
printer such as described in Long et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,179,
or label printers of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,494
or U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,396. The Long et al. system produces
identification characters that are both human and machine readable.
The identification characters, such as those on a patient's I.D.
bracelet or an inventory control tag or label, are scanned with an
optical character reader. The character information obtained from
the reader is processed and used to control the reproduction of the
identification characters using a dot matrix thermal printer. Long
et al. enhance the readability of the characters by increasing the
heat applied by the thermal printer to the thermal paper. This
increases the dot area and radiation absorbance to produce an
apparent solid line character which is more easily readable by an
optical character reader.
A typical system for this purpose includes an entire label
dispenser printer unit only a portion of which is seen as being
mounted on a frame 10 in FIG. 1. A label supply cassette,
constructed in accordance with this invention, is depicted at 12.
The cassette dispenses labels 14 releasably adhered to a support
strip 16. In accordance with this invention, the support strip is
formed with holes 68 in the support strip between each label 14.
The support strip 16 is passed onto a label printer depicted
generally by bock 18. The block 18 may be a typical impact printer
of conventional design or a thermal printer of the type described
in the Long patent or U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,396. The imprinted labels
exit from the printer 18. The support strip is removed from the
labels, or vice versa, either manually or by bending the support
strip, as is well known, around a sharp corner such that it is
separated from the label. The printer preferably includes a drive
motor, such as that described in the Long et al. patent, for
advancing the support strip automatically under the control of a
label position sensor of the type described above.
The present invention improves such prior systems by providing an
improved label cassette 12 which may be molded of a suitable
engineering plastic and is generally rectangular in configuration.
The cassette 12 has a bottom wall 20 and side walls 22 which
cooperate with the bottom wall to enclose an interior area adapted
to retain a roll of detachable labels 24 as described. A cover 26,
attached by a living hinge 28 (FIG. 3) to one of the side walls,
completes the assembly for enclosing the roll 24 within the
cassette. The cover 26 may have a hollow stud 30 formed thereon
adapted to fit within a hub 32 formed on the bottom wall 20.
Preferably, the corners of the cassette 12 are generally rounded.
An exit slot 38 is formed in the side wall 22 adjacent (upper left
in the drawing) one corner 34. A shaped surface 36 is formed at the
exit slot 38 to direct the support strip 16 through the exit slot
38 to permit the support strip to be withdrawn. The opening 38 is
in the upper side wall 22. This side wall is foreshortened to form
the shaped surface 36. This side wall also is foreshortened at the
opposite (upper right in the drawing) corner to define an angled
corner 40. The surface forming this corner 40 is at a generally
45.degree. angle with respect to the side walls 22 and either is
painted or has a reflective surface adhered thereto such that light
or other radiant energy may be reflected therefrom. Typically a
white paint may be used to provide suitable reflectivity although a
mirror type surface is preferred. For this purpose aluminum tape
having an adherent backing may be used.
The cassette 12 may be provided with suitable locking catches such
as provided by the male studs 42 and the female receptacle 44.
These generally may be provided at the three corners of the
cassette.
Further, in accordance with this invention, the cassette 12 is
adapted to be placed in a rectangular receptacle formed on the
mount 10 by a pair of corner brackets 50 and 52. The brackets are
secured to the mount 10 as by suitable screws 54. The upper bracket
in the drawing 52 is extended in the horizontal direction to cover
most of the upper side wall 22 of the cassette 12. The bracket is
formed such that its upper surface has a groove of a width suitable
for receiving the support strip 16 and guiding it past an opening
or orifice 58 formed in the bracket. Light from a light source 60,
secured as by a suitable bracket 62 to the mount 10, is adapted to
pass downwardly through the orifice 58. Power for the light source
60 is supplied from a suitable source typically depicted as the
block 18 which is the location of the printer. Any battery or power
source may serve for this purpose.
Light from the light source 60 is passed downwardly in the drawing
to be reflected from the angled surface 40 to a photocell or other
suitable radiant energy detector 64 positioned in the mounting
bracket 52. The resulting electrical signal from the detector 64 is
passed to the printer to control the advance of the support strip
with the labels thereon. A reflective strip 41 may be placed on the
surface 40 and may be narrow so that if the cassette is not
properly positioned, no light is reflected.
The printer logic circuitry is conventional and of the type
described by Long et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,396 or U.S. Pat. No.
3,997,384. Preferably these prior systems are modified such that an
initial signal from the photocell 60 is required to prime the
substrate advance control gate. This gate (not shown) may be a two
input AND gate which initiates the substrate advance when a
substrate advance and print signal is received. Using the unique
cassette of this invention, if the cassette is not properly
positioned, no prime signal is received. Unless so primed by the
photocell signal, the gate will not permit the advance of the
substrate for the next printing cycle. The substrate continues to
advance until a second signal is received from the photocell
indicating the next hole 68 is over the orifice 68 and light is
again striking the photocell. The second signal stops the substrate
advance and the advance gate is again primed awaiting the next
advance and print signal.
In operation, a cassette 12 with a roll 24 of labels therein is
positioned within the rectangular receptacle formed by the brackets
50 and 52. The support strip 16 with the labels 14 thereon is fed
through the groove 56 to the label printer 18 and advanced until
one of the holes 68 in the support strip is in alignment with the
opening 58. When the operator desires to print a new label, he
actuates the printer 18 as described. Any of the known control
systems, such as that described by Long et al., may be used for
this purpose. The printing may continue until the light path,
established from the lamp 60 through the next hole 68 and the
orifice 58 is reflected off the angular surface to the photocell,
is again established. The re-establishment of the light path is
detected and the drive motor of the printer stopped to await the
next label print signal.
The advantages of this particular system are many; for one, if the
cassette is improperly positioned within the receptacle, the light
path is not completed and the system is rendered inoperative by the
simple logic of not permitting the printer to operate or the
substrate to advance unless and until its initial condition is that
of a light path having been established. Furthermore, the
uncertainties of the prior transmission through transparent tape
systems and those depending upon varying reflectivities of the
support strip are virtually eliminated. The system is relatively
fool-proof and quite reliable in its operation.
* * * * *